


New Friends and a Trip to Hogsmeade

by she_who_the_river_could_not_hold



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/M, Fluff, Mike and El are together in this, One Shot, but I didn't feel like I should tag them, since I want to primarily have it focus on Lucas and Max, with a dash of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 22:23:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14680683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/she_who_the_river_could_not_hold/pseuds/she_who_the_river_could_not_hold
Summary: Max Mayfield is a new student at Hogwarts during the Party's third year. Sometimes it just takes a trip to Hogsmeade, some butterbeer, and a deep conversation to develop new friends (and new crushes).





	New Friends and a Trip to Hogsmeade

**Author's Note:**

> requested by anonymous and originally posted on tumblr → "a Lumax Harry Potter AU where Max transfers to Hogwarts"

“I think there’s a new student,” Will announced, dropping his stack of books onto the table next to Dustin.

 

Yanking his parchment out from underneath just in time, Mike cocked an eyebrow at his friend as Will sat down. 

 

“What do you mean? Of course there is, it’s the start of a new year. I keep tripping on first years anytime I’m trying to go anywhere,” he said with a hint of annoyance (as if he wasn’t only two years older than all of them).

 

“No, she’s our age,” Will explained absentmindedly, already focusing on opening his charms textbook to start on his homework.

 

“Will’s right,” El announced as she slid over to sit next to Mike, planting a quick kiss on his cheek. “She’s a third year too, Gryffindor. McGonagall had me show her around the other day.”

 

“Is she cool? Would she want to hang out with us? Since she probably doesn’t have any other friends," Dustin rambled excitedly, looking up from the comic book he was reading. Being a Muggleborn, he had done everything he could to keep his favorite things still a part of his life – meaning he was beyond ecstatic to find out that the wizarding world had comics _that actually moved_ while you read them.

 

El simply shrugged back. 

 

“She seemed nice. Pretty nervous I suppose, she didn’t really say much.”

 

“Maybe we can see if she wants to join us this weekend at Hogsmeade?” Will’s offer seemed like a nice idea, and not too scary of an offer for friendship, so the group agreed to extend the invitation.

 

* * *

 

The weekend rolled around and the students found themselves in a buzz of a excitement. First and second years stared enviously as the older students lined up to leave for Hogsmeade, while the older students chatted animatedly and grouped together with their friends.

 

“Who did you say is joining us again?” 

 

Lucas’ voice cut over the crowd as he tried to get Dustin’s attention.

 

“A girl named Max, apparently she’s a new third year in Gryffindor!”

 

Lucas nodded and glanced around, thankful for once that they were all out of uniform for the trip out. The stereotypes of the houses had been washed away after the Battle of Hogwarts those years ago, but he still sometimes felt worried that new Gryffindors would see the green on his robes and judge him for it. He couldn’t help his inner ambition and he wasn’t going to be ashamed of it.

 

But still.

 

He was glad he could try to make a new friend away from antiquated house images.

 

“There they are!”  


Lucas spun around to see where Dustin was enthusiastically waving. Approaching them was the rest of their party: tall, lanky Mike Wheeler with his hand in the dainty El Hopper’s, and equally smaller Will Byers talking to a girl with long fiery orange hair. 

 

Oh no.

 

_She was really cute._

 

Once they had finally all made their way together, El took the chance to introduce the others.

 

“Max, this is Dustin and Lucas. Dustin is in Ravenclaw and Lucas is in Slytherin!”

 

_Okay, so much for the lack of house identity._

 

But it didn’t seem to bother Max, who instead gave a friendly smile and a quick wave of her hand at them, though her other hand was twisting a lock of hair giving a hint to the nervousness she was maybe hiding.

 

With the introductions out of the way, the party immediately converged and as they made their way to Hogsmeade, fell into their usual banter. Mike and Dustin were debating something from one of their classes, while El and Will chatted casually about his latest art project he was working on. Lucas found himself unintentionally falling back next to Max.

 

“How’s it going at Hogwarts so far for you?” Lucas asked, internally cringing at the small talk.

 

“It’s good!” She gave him a smile and he nerves dissipate. “Classes are as good as they could be I suppose. I’m thinking of trying out for the Quidditch team actually.”

 

“Wow! Are you good at it?”

 

“Fastest flier out there,” she said smugly, flashing him a confident, slightly triumphant smile. Alright, his heart has officially _flown_ out of his chest.

 

“I’ll try not to cheer too loudly against you,” he teased back with a wink. 

 

A wink? 

 

_When the hell did he start winking?_

 

She begins to protest quickly (saying something along the lines of “house rivalry doesn’t set anyone up for success”) and they spend the rest of the time chatting about Quidditch and their favorite teams. 

 

Before they know it, the group arrives at Hogsmeade. El gave Lucas a look approval when it took him and Max just slightly longer to catch up – a look he conveniently chose to ignore. He was also trying to ignore how close together he and Max were standing, but that was harder to do when he could feel the heat radiating off of her. 

 

His hand twitched. 

 

“I need to grab some candy to send back for Holly’s birthday,” Mike said, nodding towards Honeydukes. 

 

El’s eyes lit up at and she practically batted her eyelashes at Mike, causing him to say sheepishly with a blush, “and some extra for El.” 

 

The boys all rolled their eyes (who was that in love at age thirteen?).

 

“I want to go hit up Zonkos,” Dustin announced. 

 

Lucas frowned.

 

“Didn’t we go last weekend?”  


 

“They probably have more stuff, duh Lucas.”  


 

“That seems excessive.”

 

Before Dustin could retort, Max jumped into the conversation. She also did it by placing her hand on Lucas’ shoulder and he definitely saw the look that El gave them this time.

 

“How about we split up? I don’t need anything right now, so the rest of us can go over to the Three Broomsticks and save seats for everyone?”

 

The idea was actually really logical and they all agreed to splitting up, Will choosing to join Dustin. And with that, they went on their separate ways. The Three Broomsticks was bustling as always, but with it only being the middle of fall, it wasn’t nearly as packed as it gets on a snowy day. It made it easy for the two of them to squish two tables together in a back corner and Lucas nabbed two orders of butterbeer for them.

 

They squeezed into two of the seats while they waited for their friends, a casual silence falling between them. After a bit of people-watching, Lucas glanced over at Max out of the corner of his eye. Obviously he thought she’s cute, but after their conversation on the way here, he really just genuinely wanted to learn more about her.

 

“Okay, so how does someone start at Hogwarts late?” He took a big gulp of his butterbeer. “If you’re comfortable talking about it, of course,” he rushed to add.

 

Max looked at him steadily, almost calculatingly. She seemed to be weighing the consideration if it was worth opening up to him. Lucas did his best to not squirm.

 

Just when he was pretty sure she was going to tell him to shove off, and he was wishing with everything he could that he could spontaneously apparate out of there, she gave a slight nod.

 

“It’s not a really feel-good story,” she prefaced warningly, but Lucas gave her an encouraging smile all the same. 

 

Her mouth twitched into its own grin as well before launching into her story.

 

“Well, my mom’s a witch, my step-dad isn’t. And it turns out he’s not one of those Muggles that likes the idea of witches and wizards. So he ended up––” Max’s voice broke here a little bit as her mouth curved more into a bitter smile. “He did everything he could to make our lives hell. I was really young so my mom did everything she could to get us off the map. And she was trying to teach me on her own, but it turns out homeschooling a witch isn’t as easy as a normal kid so when we finally found out it was safe for us, she got in touch with Dumbledore and got me to Hogwarts.”

 

A silence fell between them and Lucas felt his heart going out to this new girl in his life. Someone who had come from such a different family life than his own. Someone who had still made it out.

 

She laughed a bit nervously into her butterbeer before looking up at Lucas anxiously.

 

“That’s it. I’m sorry, that got dark. Like really dark,” she mumbled, blushing furiously.

 

Lucas instinctively reached out and placed his hand on hers, giving her a reassuring smile.

 

“Hey, it’s totally fine. Sometimes people have dark pasts. But it seems like you’re pretty strong,” he said with a grin.

 

Max bit her lip as her smile grew larger, her eyes flicking down to their hands. Lucas pulled on every single ounce of bravery in him to not pull it away. Instead he gave it a soft squeeze.

 

“I’ll always be here for you Max.”

 

“Thanks for listening to me, I like talking with you.”

 

They found themselves sitting there grinning at each other for what felt like a while before the rest of the party burst into The Three Broomsticks. 

 

“We’re back!” Dustin shouted. “We found all of the – wait, are you guys holding hands?”

 


End file.
